4x4 Action Group

Has anyone on here replaced the stock ball joint rods ends with spherical rods end on the tie-rod and drag-links in the steering?
I have been looking around for a solution for the non-replaceble stock units on my SJ and found this.... http://bulletproofsteering.com

Looks like a workable solution and should be able to make it up locally.

Any thoughts on pro's and con's of doing something like his?


Thanks

W

This is what i did on the Jeep Willyz

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Thanks Jaco...Very much what I was thinking of doing.

Did you have any issues with the steering after the modification?
Did you manage to source the bits locally?

The SJ is not a daily drive but does get used on the road.

I got them from Bearing man. There are cheap one available. I went for the bigger and not sheap ones. One the stearing i used 16 thread. I bought a round tubing with a 6mm wall thickes and hole inside smaller than 14. Took to engineering and they taped it for me. On the xj i used a 20 mm joint, got thread cutted on the outside, made bushes so the mounting point aint to big.

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Awesome, thanks.

Will definitely look into this further.

We have used this style of rod end on the race cars for years. As Jaco says there are different grades of rod ends. Stay away from the cheep one's and the aircraft grade one's will brake the bank. The mid price range one's are strong enough for most applications and are easily available from suppliers like Bearing Man. When mounting the ball on a flat surface, ensure that the arm has full movement travel that you require. You can add a tube spacer onto the bolt to get this correct.

couple of issues with using rod ends instead of ball joints...

1. as mentioned, go big, your common and garden industrial rod ends are 8.8 steel on the housing part, against high tensile -12.9 graded steel for the thread on the ball joint,

genuine rose joints are made from high end steel but... eina price.


2. wear. there is no boot and its not lubricated. you can expect dust and dirt to get into the ball and grind away at the housing and ball. gets floppy very quickly,,,,

3. necking out -the rotational movement means the bolt in the hole 'necks' out at quite a low angle and binds up, putting load on the rod. make sure it has a full range of movement

Thats why i make the bushes the inserts in joint. Getting a bitt of height and giving the extra movment.

Jaco Jeep wrote:I got them from Bearing man. There are cheap one available. I went for the bigger and not sheap ones. One the stearing i used 16 thread. I bought a round tubing with a 6mm wall thickes and hole inside smaller than 14. Took to engineering and they taped it for me. On the xj i used a 20 mm joint, got thread cutted on the outside, made bushes so the mounting point aint to big.

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Thanks guys....

Is it possible to get these in a greasable version?
Any particular make / brand to look for?

Point noted on the spacers / necking-out.
Bushes like Jaco has made should be easy to have machined up.

You do get them greasable. Just need to buy the grease gun. I just unscrew my grease gun point and press very hard on it to greaze. This one i am using are a IK0. Got from bearing man

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Got a bearing man close to me so will go chat to them.

What tubing did you use for the actual rods?

Think it was a 14 id and 27 od

Wooky wrote:Got a bearing man close to me so will go chat to them.

What tubing did you use for the actual rods?

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Was it any particular grade?
I see the guys over on Pirate refer to DOM tubing but nit sure what that is

DOM are drawn over mandrill . I got it from Alert steel those years.

Wooky wrote:Was it any particular grade?
I see the guys over on Pirate refer to DOM tubing but nit sure what that is

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Google DOM steel. Searce supplier closes to u. I still have about two meters left. Just to get it out of store room


Will take a pic later.

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